Don't misunderstand: I'm not some flag-waving patriot, swinging from a red postbox with a Charles & Di memorial mug gripped between my jaws.

In fact, I abhor nationalism, and I think that comes, in part, from belonging to a nation that doesn't have any real idea of what it is to have national pride.

We seem to be a country that fumbles in trying to define itself. On the one hand, we don't want to let go of tradition... and on the other we don't want to be seen as old fashioned. Plus, it doesn't help that so much of what it was to be British - specifically English, let's face it - is wrapped up with how we stamped all over the rest of the world.

Still, it isn't like that has ever stopped the Americans...

I feared Scotland gaining independence, because so much of who I am comes from Scotland; I spent a big chunk of my formative years up there. Losing Scotland would've somehow meant losing part of myself. In part, that might be attributed to wanting to borrow that sense of identity and pride the Scots seem to have; as a kid, I told people I was from Scotland. I didn't think telling them I was English really meant anything.

And yet... I can watch a TV show or read a book, and say it feels British - English even - without really being able to articulate why. Too bad there aren't any games about which I can say the same thing.

THEM FOREIGNERSForeigners seem to have a better sense of who we are: according to some, we're unfailingly polite, binge-drinking, tea-sipping, emotionally-repressed royalists, with a limp grasp of dentistry, and terrible cuisine.

Some of that might be even be accurate.

Part of me envies those who feel like they share in some sort of national identity and pride. The Union Jack, unfortunately, means little to me; it's either a fashion icon, or used by the right to flick the buttocks of Muslims.

Whether they're indie games or big triple-A blockbusters, few games seem to evoke a sense of Britishness. Even our biggest UK games development success story - Rockstar Games - seems intent on creating games that are a celebration of American culture (albeit, arguably, from a cynical perspective).

Obviously, Assassin's Creed Syndicate was set in London, as was The Order 1886, but it was a London that those overseas seem to expect: one still stuck in the gaslit, Victorian era, shrouded in smog. It was Theme Park London, and played all the greatest hits with its workshops and urchins.

BEST OF BRITISHIn 2014, The Guardian published a list of the top 30 British video games.

Only three of them - 1996's Tomb Raider, 1984's Skool Daze, and Goldeneye - featured a protagonist who was recognisably British (and one of those was James Bond). Jet Set Willy was there of course, and though Miner Willy's ethnicity is never explicitly stated... the fact he's suffering a raging hangover and can visit the off licence, suggests the game is set on home turf. So we can include him.

The remainder, however, featured the likes of Arkham Asylum, Burnout Paradise, Lego Star Wars, Manhunt, Singstar and DJ Hero. Not a one of them could be said to express any sort of real British identity. They're tailored to be as broadly accessible as possible, to an international audience.

That's understandable: potential customers don't need to be scared off by making the lead character Prince William or something. By the same token, most games that aren't based in an entirely fantasy setting, either feature an American lead character, or are set in America, or at least wave the flag for American culture (literally in the case of most of the Call of Duty games) - whether their origin is American, British, Japanese, or Russian.

Frankly, we're all so inured to Americana that it's hardly going to put any of us off, so why do we feel that they don't want to play games with a British backdrop?

The last game I played that felt familiarly British was Zombi-U; a game that really deserved a wider audience. Growing up, every other game I played felt British. Yes, Skool Daze, but also Jack the Nipper, Everyone's a Wally, Rockstar Ate My Hamster, Urban Upstart... And I honestly lament their passing. I always get a thrill at seeing London or the British countryside in a game.

I enjoyed Rockstar's Bully, but it failed to live up to my hopes that it would be a proper update on the Skool Daze/Back To Skool template. For me, those games were all about being set in a school that I recognised. Setting Bully in an American prep school, with panty raids and skateboards, lost me.

NOSTALGIA AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BEI get that this is all nostalgia to a degree.

I understand that entertainment is becoming globally homogenised. Kids no longer all watch the same British-produced shows, so the cultural touchstones have fragmented.

There's so much choice, and so much of it comes from America, that our identity - such that it was - is being overwritten.

​Which is fine, probably.

I mean, Britain as we know it is relatively new. We've always been a nation of immigrants. Hell, we're a planet of immigrants: if Lucy's descendants hadn't decided to have a nice holiday one day, we'd all still be stuck in Africa. There's virtually no such thing as indigenous people whatsoever once you go far enough back. Indigenous Australians have only been in Australia about 50,000 years, and the Native Americans got there by crossing a land bridge from Eurasia.

So when you look at it like that, me whingeing about the lack of red telephone boxes in video games borders on the pathetic. Nevertheless, it'd be nice if a few more developers took the risk that Britain, as a nation, has something to say without needing to roll out the plummy-voiced stereotypes, or lazy steampunkery?

In the 21st Century, what is it that makes us British really - and how can video games reflect that?

If someone ever made a game loosely based around the novel '1984', a bit like the concept Valve used for HL2, they could always use present day Britain as a template with only a few minor tweaks; CCTV cameras everywhere, a despotic right wing government run by a bunch of corrupt back-slapping elites, and an apathetic and depressive populace who accept every affront they're given with nothing more than a resigned shrug.

Also Biffs, if Scotland had voted to leave the UK, they wouldn't have strapped a few outboard motors to the place and headed off into the north sea - it would still be the same as it always was, contrary to what the Daily Mail would tell you.

I'm American but my friends describe me as European, and not in a way that means I don't shower enough. Aside from my flat out refusal to consider yodeling an art form I get pretty close to a Continental mindset.

It's weird I can say when something feels British and it's little things but also so much more. Calling 'sneakers' 'trainers' (but at least you don't say 'tennis shoe'!) and the idea that a young boy would wear a tie to school being a 'given' rather than needing to explain it was a required uniform by his private school or something.

What gives me a sense of British-ness in something is which assumptions the author is making about me, the reader. It's hard to put a finger on examples. It's not something I can easily point out because it's all subtext.It's not something you can read or see or hear... or put your finger on. It's what isn't there... or what the writer assumes is already there.

I will also say that I am constantly fighting to keep my native American-English writing style because I know I'm on a British website, having just read an article written in British with British assumptions.

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Picston Shottle

3/2/2016 09:29:52 pm

I'm an Englishman living in the US and I will not, for anybody, give up spelling "colour" and "favourite" with a "u", and to substitute an "s" for a "z" (zed, not zee) is, quite frankly, heretical!

I spell in Hybrid styles. Color as the u, but only as a verb for some reason. I'm still not used to the ESS and ZEE thing. Recognize... recognise... A Centre may be used as a proper noun but never a common noun, that's center. Also I laugh when British people say "Fetus", Canadians say "Raccoon" or Germans try to use American obscenities.

I still am not sure why British people are so upset over it being called ZEE. I guess it's the same reason I cringe at the term fortnight (the only Americans who use that are pretentious and usually involved with theater in some way) or Canadians feel visible pain if you say 'ice hockey'.

(Fine, I actually do think walking sims count if they're done well, but I couldn't resist)

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Mr Biffo

3/2/2016 09:58:17 pm

Ok - I'll give you that one. I erased that from my memory, because I didn't like it. But I think it's also slightly representative of what I'm talking about... a bit. I know that sort of Little England exists, but it's very much a stereotypical version of a sort of idyll. I guess I want games that speak to those of us who grew up in the suburbs. It's entirely selfish and unrealistic, but I want to see normal towns and streets.

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Dr Kank

3/2/2016 09:25:26 pm

Scotland were mad not to take independence when they had the chance. You fools! You could have escaped!

Assassin's Creed Unity felt quite British, but I don't think that was deliberate.

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Euphemia

3/2/2016 10:53:03 pm

Wasn't Bloodborne set in Glasgow? Maybe it didn't quite capture the true horror of an evening out and about there, but seemed pretty accurate. Pretty sure I saw some off those crow things with wolf heads outside Greggs.

So much potential material that could be plundered/licensed from JD Ballard such as Drowned World, High Rise, Kingdom Come, Concrete Island etc. Could make for incredible British set games.

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CdrJameson

4/2/2016 10:46:12 am

I think Britishness in games is more a feeling than a location - Dredd vs Death felt quite British through the dialog, despite being explicitly set in America (and unfortunately also a pile of crap. Dredd-ful in fact.)

It's more a general irreverence, a bit of mundanity, sometimes plain surreal, but mostly putting things in purely because they're funny.

This is one of the most British games I've played in recent years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGZW-bzU8Mc
(especially when you get to the later levels where the enemies look like the old TV weather symbols)

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Mr Biffo

4/2/2016 12:05:45 pm

That looks great. And very Lllamasoft. Time to dig out my iPad arcade cabinet...

I guess that sort of falls into that fantasy steampunk-y category for me. I sort of want something that feels modern... yet British.

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Keith

5/2/2016 11:58:37 am

There hasn't been a game that has tried to do this since something like The Getaway, so far as I I can remember. It'd be really interesting if done well. Even fAntasy RPG's seem to have more of an American sensibility than an English one

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Mr Biffo

6/2/2016 03:53:41 pm

Indeed so! Sort of Lord of the Rings through an American filter.

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not Biff's desired suburban crisp packet epic, but an open world Robin Hood game where you're building a base, winning support from the populace, recruiting etc would be the tits. Basically Far Cry/MGSV mashup.

5/2/2016 05:47:18 pm

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Dave Undercarriage

9/2/2016 05:33:18 pm

Was playing Witcher 3 the other day and visited a crappy little village built on a bog... one of the residents randomly said to me 'Welcome to our fucking shithole' in a very, very sarcastic and Northern way... made me vaguely homesick!

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I-KEIR

10/2/2016 06:37:33 pm

In a reversal of the Americanisation trend, there's the American-developed Killing Floor (2009), multiplayer zombie meatgrinder set in modern London. The protagonists are a gaggle of cockney coppers. The authenticity has me reaching for my Oyster card every time!